'You Do What You Can to Get Ready'

Ben Roethlisberger discusses short week prep

PITTSBURGH (93.7 the Fan) – At 6-2 and the third best record in the NFC, the Carolina Panthers would be a challenge with a bye-week to prepare, let alone a short week. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said they just condense their planning and while that’s difficult, it’s physically recovering for the players that is likely a bigger challenge this week.

Players get in their routine to get their bodies back ready. There are stories from former players of barely being able to walk the day after a game and they are back at practice just two days after. Whether it’s the hot tub, or massage, or just rest, players says they will do what they can to get their bodies ready to go three days earlier than usual.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said the bigger issue with the short week is who they played Sunday, another physical battle with Baltimore. Roethlisberger said you try to get as healthy as you can.

“You won’t be able to throw some stuff, some new things in there, but not like a typical work week or game plan week where you have a lot of things,” Roethlisberger said of the impact on the game-plan. “So, some of the no huddle, and some things that we have done over the weeks and years”

So why do Roethlisberger and offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner turn to calling plays at the line.

“The familiarity of it,” Roethlisberger said of their success. “We’ve been doing no-huddle stuff and those plays for a long time, so it’s not something new.”

The Steelers are now 5-2-1, hold a half game lead in the AFC North after starting the season with an opening tie to Cleveland and a pair of home losses.

“We’ve had a lot of the same guys here for a long time so there was no panic in the room early in the season,” Roethlisberger said. “That’s why we got a good chuckle out of you guys panicking and the outside world panicking but for us it was just a matter of playing the next week.”